Sorry, that should have read “drool too much”. On Aug 10, 2011, at 3:36 PM, Dave Gary wrote:
Oh, Chuck. From reading your posts I never realized that you’re quite the dreamer. Retirement? What’s that? How will it happen? On what? Face it, we’ll work until they can’t stand to look at us because we drool to much…or we’re dropping dead just for the fun of it.
Dave
On Aug 10, 2011, at 10:24 AM, Chuck Hards wrote:
On 8/10/11, erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
The main point I agree with is that it seems people have forgotten how easy a dob is to set up. Truss designs make it a little harder, but it is possible to make a telescope that is ready for observing in minutes. People seem intimidated by learning the sky well enough for non goto use.
Spot-on, Erik. It's not a matter of free time for most people, but mental laziness. Nobody has a stop-watch going during set up.
I don't even have a problem with taking the extra time to set up my equatorial. The main reason I'm not more active is that I have to get up at 4:30 AM to go to work, then work 10-hour days. I sometimes don't get back home for over 12 hours. In summer, I'm in bed before it's even dark. And on the last night of the work week when I can actually stay up late, I'm just too physically exhausted to do ANYTHING. Weekends are time to get all the things done that folks with normal schedules do after work. And again, after doing yard work or house maintenance for most of the day, I'm too beat to drive to a remote site. I'd probably fall asleep on the road and kill myself or others. Back-yard it is.
Astronomy requires the oddest of hours, and it's just not logistically possible for me to do with any kind of semi-regularity. So, I build telescopes when I do have an indoor hour free, and I'll return to regular observing when and if I retire. I have a lot of eggs in my retirement basket, but it can't be helped. YMMV.
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